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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE 



YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED, 



PASTORAL COUNSEL 



AGAINST 



CONFORMITY TO THE WORLD 



BY THE 

EEY. J. E. ROCKWELL, 

BROOKLYN, N. Y. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION. 
NO. 821 CHESTNUT STREET. 



/HI 



< 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by 

JAMES DTJNLAP, Treas., 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District 

of Pennsylvania. 



STEREOTYPED BY 

JESPER HARDING & SON, 

INQUIRER BUILDING, SOUTH THIRD STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 



PREFACE. 



The experience of the writer of this lit- 
tle treatise, as a Pastor, especially among 
those who have but recently commenced 
the Christian life, has led him to attempt 
what he sincerely wishes were done by an 
abler hand. He has written it in the hope 
that it may prove useful as a manual to be 
placed in the hands of those who, although 
connected with the church, are in constant 
danger from the causes which are here 
pointed out. If it shall be the means of 
warning any of the perils amid which mul- 
titudes have made shipwreck of usefulness 
and happiness and hope, and of directing to 
the only way of escape, his object will have 
been accomplished. 

(3) 



4 PREFACE. 

To the beloved youth of his own charge, 
to the young Christians who, in the recent 
outpourings of the Spirit, have been brought 
into the light and hope of the gospel, he 
commends this volume with the earnest 
prayer, that God may sanctify them wholly, 
and make them chosen vessels to declare 
his glory. 

Brooklyn, March 1859. 



CONTENTS, 



«*•» 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Introductory, 7 

CHAPTER II. 

Scriptural tests of conduct, . . . 23 

CHAPTER III. 

The world viewed in the light of eternity, . 40 

CHAPTER IV. 

The dangers of worldly pleasure, . . 55 

CHAPTER V. 

Signs of decay in the Christian life, . . 78 
1* (5) 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 

PAGE 

Directions to the backslider, ... 92 

CHAPTER VII. 

Happiness only in God, . . . . 113 

CHAPTER VIH. 

The Christian's high calling, . . . 127 



THE 

YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

CHAPTER I. 
INTRODUCTORY. 

" Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways 
be established." " Be not conformed to this world." 
" Young men, likewise, exhort to be sober minded." 

No class of temptations furnishes a 
more serious hindrance to the spiritual 
progress of the Christian, and espe- 
cially of the young Christian, than 
those which arise from his social plea- 
sures and the ordinary amusements of 
the world. He can understand the ne- 
cessity of integrity, of temperance, and 
purity, and of abstaining from acts which 

(7) 



8 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

are evidently and undeniably vicious, 
but when warned of the dangers which 
may arise from social pleasures in 
themselves innocent, and from recrea- 
tions which are not strictly prohibited 
in the word of God, he reluctates to 
receive the friendly monition, and too 
often passes on in a career of folly, 
which leaves him in a backslidden state 
from which he can be recovered only 
by a long and bitter experience of dis- 
tress, and sorrow, and deep repentance. 
The Christian should therefore pause 
and ponder the path of his feet, ere he 
enters upon any course, or engages in 
any act, which has not the direct sanc- 
tion of his own conscience, enlightened 
by the law of God. If upon calm and 
serious reflection, he is assured that it 
will meet the approval of his heavenly 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 9 

Father, let him enter upon it and en- 
gage in it heartily. 

It is the part of wisdom to look upon 
the things of this life, not in the delu- 
sive and gorgeous colourings, in which 
the world or even our own fancy may 
paint them, but in the sober reasonings 
of a mind, which considers the results 
of our conduct and follows out a course 
of action to its natural consequences. 

The excellent and pious Hervey was 
once travelling in company with a lady 
wholly devoted to the world and its 
amusements, who was defending the 
theatre and expatiating upon the plea- 
sure she always derived from its fasci- 
nating scenes. She remarked that 
there was a pleasing excitement in the 
anticipation and preparations for the 
play, that while there these anticipa- 
tions were more than realized in the 



10 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

brilliancy and interest of the scene be- 
fore her, and that when it was over 
there was still a pleasure in reflecting 
upon what she had heard and witnessed. 
Mr. Hervey, having patiently listened 
to her warm and glowing panegyric, 
remarked, with his wonted mildness, 
" There is one pleasure, madam, which 
you seem to have forgotten in your 
enumeration." She eagerly asked what 
that could be, for she thought she had 
included them all. With unusual 
gravity and solemnity of manner, he 
replied, " The pleasure, madam, it will 
give you on your death bed." The re- 
proof went to her heart, and she re- 
mained silent to the end of the journey. 
But the truth had reached her con- 
science. The solemn words were 
sounding in her ears wherever she 
went; and the gay lover of the world 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 11 

and its vain amusements at length be- 
came earnest in the pursuit of those 
pleasures, which can alone give satis- 
faction when we come to die, and 
which shall be continued and perpetua- 
ted in heaven. 

Here is afforded a test to which 
every act and pleasure of life may be 
safely brought: will it fit me for a 
djdng hour, and for the solemn scenes 
of the judgment? 

Nor need this question be, to us, the 
source of ceaseless gloom; nor will it 
rob us of every cheerful thought and 
emotion, to live and act in view of 
eternity. 

God has not spread around our path 
the bounties of his providence, nor 
given to us social affections, nor placed 
us in the midst of a world full of beauty, 
where every forest is vocal with the 



12 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

choral songs of joy, and every flower 
is wreathed with smiles ; that we should 
turn from them all with an ascetic 
gloom, and hide ourselves in cloisters 
and caves, and war with all that is 
lovely and joyous. 

The mind is not always to be strained 
by serious thought and duty. There 
are times when it needs and demands 
healthful recreation, when it needs to 
be unbent and released from its more 
earnest labours. The student cannot 
always, without danger, task his mental 
powers with severe study. There are 
hours when he must lay his work aside, 
and be again a child. And the same 
rule applies to all the phases of human 
life. It is, however, of the utmost im- 
portance that the Christian fully com- 
ply with the command, "Be not con- 
formed to this world." And yet there 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 13 

is an acknowledged difficulty in de- 
fining the limits of Christian liberty, 
and in knowing where is the line which 
separates innocence from guilt, in our 
contact with the world. "While there 
are courses of conduct which are dis- 
tinctly marked and recognized, as plain 
violations of the law of God, there are 
customs of the world which are not 
only harmless but praise-worthy, and 
to which the Christian may properly 
conform. There are social pleasures, 
schemes for the intellectual improve- 
ment of society, and healthful recrea- 
tions, in which the child of God may 
join with entire safety. The gospel 
does not require of him to array him- 
self in grotesque and ill-shapen garm en ts, 
for fear of conforming to the world in 
its fashions. It does not ask him to 
renounce all exercise of the taste and 

2 



14 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

the imagination, because men, who have 
no love for God, admire works of taste 
and art. The Christian may find 
pleasure in the study of a finished 
painting, or the exquisite design of the 
sculptor, or may listen with delight to 
the strains of music, and yet live in in- 
timate communion with God, and be 
guiltless of any sinful conformity to the 
world. Religion does not change the 
intellectual and social nature of man by 
substituting new powers and faculties. 
It refines and purifies and elevates the 
whole being. So that among those 
who have been most distinguished at 
the bar, or in the councils of the nation, 
or among the supporters of literature, 
and art, and science, have been men 
who have by grace been made new 
creatures in Christ. 

Nor does religion require that man 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 15 

should be a hermit or a monk, and, in 
a life of austerity and seclusion, live at 
war with all our social feelings and 
habits. 

Our Saviour, whose example we are 
to imitate, was often the invited guest 
of Publicans and Pharisees, and with 
no rigid austerity sat with them at their 
feasts. 

He mingled with them not alone in 
the temple and the synagogue, but be- 
came their guest, and sat with them 
in their houses, at their social entertain- 
ments. 

In the arrangements of this world 
both the righteous and the wicked meet 
together, and God has designed that 
they should live and act together, and 
exert a mutual influence, the one upon 
the other, either for good or evil. Still 
more it is evident that in the inter- 



16 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

course of life, and the social interchange 
of thought and feeling that thus takes 
place, the mind is not always to be 
tasked, but may unbend itself and find 
in innocent and healthful recreation 
that rest which it daily requires. 
Even gladness, and joy, and mirth, are 
not only not prohibited, but approved, 
and the mind and heart allowed to 
give utterance to those emotions. Here 
then are we met by those who profess 
to be guided by the laws of Christ, 
with this question, To what extent may 
the Christian mingle with the world, and 
enjoy its recreations, without incurring 
guilt and the charge of inconsistency in his 
conduct 1 

Some appear to act as though there 
were no line of demarcation between 
the church and the world, except that 
which is made at the table of the Lord, 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 17 

and if reminded that, in their conformity 
to the world, they are passing the 
limits of Christian consistency ; will 
shelter themselves under the fact that 
the amusements to which they are at- 
tached, are nowhere prohibited in the 
word of God; and will seek to silence 
rebuke by the question which they 
seem to think unanswerable, "What 
harm is there in them?" It cannot be 
denied that there is, in many members 
of the visible church, a sad perversion 
of conscience upon the subject of 
fashionable amusements; or at least a 
wide difference in their conduct in this 
respect, and that of many who de- 
servedly rank high, as earnest, faithful, 
and consistent Christians. The opera, 
the theatre, the ball-room, the card- 
table, and kindred amusements, have 
sometimes found advocates among those 
2* 



18 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

professing godliness. It has been said 
in their defence that the Scriptures no- 
where prohibit them, and that they are 
not in themselves sinful, and that they 
are far less hurtful than many actions 
which others perform, who still con- 
demn these fashionable recreations. 

This may be true. Such amuse- 
ments existed in the times of the early 
church, and yet they are nowhere es- 
pecially and by name prohibited ; for it 
is evident that the apostles took it for 
granted, that the Christian had (so to 
speak) a spiritual instinct which would 
lead him to reject what was evil and 
hurtful in his contact with the world, 
so that it was needful only to lay down 
general principles to govern his con- 
duct. 

It is true also that there may be 
worse defects in Christian character, 



THE YOUXG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 19 

than an undue fondness for vain and 
trifling pleasures. He who spends his 
hours of leisure in propagating a vile 
and wicked slander, or in running up 
and down as a talebearer, and so 
marring the peace of the church, or who 
is guilty of overreaching in his busi- 
ness, gives no more and perhaps less 
evidence of the existence of grace in 
the heart, than he who is seen amid the 
assemblies of the gay and thoughtless, 
mingling with them in the amusements 
which the world has appropriated to 
itself. Yet the morals of the Scripture 
do not teach us that one wrong affords 
excuse for, or palliates another, or 
changes the immutable principles of 
right, by which every child of God 
should be guided. The great question, 
which every one is bound to answer, 
is not how far he may live away from 



20 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

God and yet be a Christian, nor how 
near he may imitate the world and yet 
maintain his standing in the church; 
but how he may most honour his 
Saviour and promote the interests of 
his cause and the salvation of souls. 
And the great rule of Christian life is, 
"Whether ye eat or drink, or whatever 
ye do, do all to the glory of God." 

This simple test, to which all our 
actions should be brought, indicates to 
us a sure and safe principle to guide 
us in our intercourse with the world. 
We are bound to honour God in all 
things, and so far as our influence ex- 
tends, to induce others to love and 
serve him. This we can do neither by 
a rigid and monkish austerity that leads 
us to war with all that is lovely and 
gladsome; nor by a sinful conformity 
to the world, in all its maxims, and 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 21 

customs, and amusements. Where 
then lies this golden mean? How may 
a Christian judge of his actions, whether 
they be innocent or sinful, when the 
word of God has not clearly decided 
the question for him? 

It is evident that many courses of 
conduct not expressly forbidden in the 
Scriptures, are yet opposed to the 
spirit of God's holy law. It requires 
but little reflection to be convinced 
that actions, in themselves innocent, 
may under certain circumstances be- 
come sin. Even prayer to God may 
be so offered as to be offensive in his 
sight, and be the source of cursing and 
not of blessing. Our divine Redeemer 
pronounced a wo upon the Pharisees, 
who for a pretence made long prayers, 
and put on an appearance of sanctity, 
while the heart yet festered with pride 



22 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

and hypocrisy. Their prayers were sins. 
And if circumstances may thus change 
apparent virtue into vice, who does not 
see that other objects, in themselves 
innocent, or which God's word has not 
pronounced sin, may be the procuring 
cause of his sore displeasure ? 

It is the purpose therefore of this 
essay to set forth some plain and sim- 
ple principles which may be of use, es- 
pecially to the young Christian, in 
enabling him to judge rightly of the 
moral character and influence of those 
recreations to which the world invites 
him, and for which it is ready to offer 
its apologies. 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 23 



CHAPTER II. 
SCRIPTURAL TESTS OF CONDUCT. 

" Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way ? 
By taking heed thereto according to thy word." 
" Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might 
not sin against thee." 

I propose in this chapter to suggest 
a few evident principles in Christian 
casuistry, which may assist us in de- 
termining when any course of action, 
or system of amusement, or recreation, 
becomes sinful, though not strictly pro- 
hibited in the word of God. The 
Bible is our only guide ; and from it 
we may derive rules of conduct appli- 
cable to all the affairs of life. To its 
light our conscience must be brought, 



24 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

that it may be properly fitted to decide 
upon our actions, and to be an unerring 
guide in all our intercourse with the 
world. 

I. The first rule to which we would 
refer, is that an action becomes sinful 
when it unfits us for the performance 
of religious duty. God has assigned 
to us various tests of obedience, which 
are evidences of the presence of his 
Spirit, and the fruits of faith in his 
Son. And it is our duty, at all times, 
to cherish that frame of mind that shall 
fit us for the discharge of these religious 
obligations. Nor are we at liberty to 
engage in any act on which we may 
not ask God's blessing, or in which 
it would be inappropriate to seek his 
guidance and direction. Thus it is the 
duty of the Christian to cherish always 
the spirit of prayer, to cultivate that 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 25 

disposition which shall fit hiin to ap- 
proach the mercy-seat, and which shall 
give him a relish for communion with 
his Maker. Whatever unfits him for 
this, and makes it distasteful to him, 
whatever inevitably and certainly tends 
to draw his thoughts and desires away 
from God, makes him a stranger to his 
closet, and interferes with his seasons 
of secret devotion, is an enemy to his 
best interests, and if continued and in- 
dulged becomes itself a sin. It was 
this truth which our Saviour taught us 
when he said, "If thy right hand offend 
thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee." 
Whatever interferes with our duty to 
God and to our own souls, is to be 
parted with, though it be the dearest 
idol of our hearts. Here then is the 
first test to which we may bring our 
pursuits and pleasures. If we find 



26 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

ourselves under their power and in- 
fluence, loving less and less the service 
of God; if they interfere with our 
attendance upon the sanctuary, and the 
ordinary means of grace; if they step 
in between us and the place of prayer; 
if they hinder us from reading the 
word of God ; if they are stealing our 
hearts away from the society of our 
brethren, and indisposing us to con- 
verse on heavenly and divine things, 
and insensibly draw off our affections 
from Christ and his service, when 
cherished and entertained by us, they 
are a snare and thus a sin. And our 
own Christian instincts will lead us to 
abandon such pleasures, though they 
may have the semblance of innocence, 
and be unxebuked in the word of God, 
as of themselves sinful. 

II. The second rule of Christian 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 27 

casuistry might be included under the 
first head, but in its importance, de- 
mands a separate consideration. What- 
ever leads us into secret or open sin, if 
indulged, becomes itself sinful. We 
are commanded to pray, Lead us not 
into temptation : and what we incorpor- 
ate with our petitions we must carry 
into practice. We have no right, wan- 
tonl} r , to place ourselves in situations 
where we may be led into sin either in 
thought, word, or action. The man 
who is in danger of relapsing into 
habits of intemperance, after having 
been in part reformed, may, by a single 
taste of the wine cup, or even a visit 
to his old haunts, awaken his slumber- 
ing appetite which may again over- 
power and master him. While there- 
fore in itself there is no sin in taking 
wine, and while many a one may pass 



28 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

with impunity through the place where 
strong drink is sold, the man who 
should do this in the full knowledge 
of its results upon him, would be guilty 
of sin in thus voluntarily placing him- 
self in the reach of temptation. Varied 
illustrations of this principle might be 
adduced were it needful. But the rule 
bears in itself the evidence of its truth. 
And it is applicable to every circum- 
stance of life. When a man finds that 
certain situations always lead him to 
sin, he is guilty of sin when he volun- 
tarily places himself within the reach 
of the temptation. The very act of 
going thither must be offensive in the 
eyes of Him who requires of us that 
"we abstain from the very appearance 
of evil." We have no right to tamper 
or parley with temptation, or to place 
ourselves where such appeals may be 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 29 

made to our senses as shall in all 
probability excite within us thoughts 
of sin, or lead us to commit that which 
we know Grod has positively forbidden. 

III. All courses of action which 
naturally tend to lead others to sin be- 
come wrong when followed b} r the 
Christian. Jesus Christ, the great law- 
giver, has cautioned us against offences, 
and pronounced grievous woes upon 
him who shall offend one of his little 
ones. 

Such are our social relations that all 
our words and deeds have a direct in- 
fluence upon the character of our fellow 
men. Unconsciously often, are we 
touching those springs of moral action, 
little appreciating the power which lies 
hidden even in the daily acts and oc- 
currences of life. Personal influence, 

like the great forces by which nature 
3* 



30 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

carries on her operations, is often quiet 
and almost unnoticed. Men are often 
disposed to give too much credit to the 
more palpable and demonstrative agen- 
cies which they see around them, and 
greatly misjudge the power of such 
means in the accomplishment of good 
or evil. In the moral, as in the 
physical world, the most powerful 
agents are usually most noiseless and 
quiet. It is not so much what a man 
professes, as what he is and does, that 
constitutes the sum of his personal in- 
fluence. Many a man seems to possess 
two characters. The one is found in 
his public words and professions, and the 
other in his life and actions. How is 
it that an individual often has little or 
no power for good, while so far as his 
creed is concerned he appears well, ex- 
cept it be that the influence which he 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 31 

is exerting in his daily exhibition of spirit 
and disposition, is far more potent for 
evil than all his well formed professions ? 
The world looks at his daily life as the 
proper index of what he is. Thus his 
conduct is marked and observed, and is 
exerting its influence upon all by whom 
his example is seen. Nor is there one 
in the church, however limited may be 
the sphere of his action, who is not thus 
shedding around him influences which 
will be felt for ever. They glide along 
with him through life, they enter 
eternity and will there be recognized 
in all their power and intensity. All 
his conduct is narrowly watched by the 
world. His light cannot be hid. 
Wherever he goes it is seen. If it be 
a pure reflection of the love and grace 
of Christ, it will be recognized by every 
mind that it reaches; if it be only a 



32 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

false glare that bewilders and mis- 
leads, it shines as far and is seen by as 
many. 

And he is responsible for the influ- 
ence which he thus exerts upon the 
world. Whatever therefore tends to di- 
minish the essential difference between 
the righteous and the wicked, or to 
influence others to sin, or to give occa- 
sion for the world to doubt the power 
and efficacy of the gospel in changing 
the heart and life, cannot be followed 
and cherished by the Christian without 
incurring guilt. We have no right to 
place a stumbling block in the way of 
others. The soul is too valuable to 
be jeoparded by the indulgence of 
what we may deem harmless and inno- 
cent. The spirit of Paul was that 
which every Christian is bound to 
cherish, when he declared, "If meat 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 33 

make my brother to offend, I will eat 
no flesh while the world standeth." 
He would abstain from what was both 
innocent and lawful, if thereby a soul 
might be led into sin. And although 
the principle he laid down has too 
often been pressed into the service of 
bigotry, and of a narrow-minded adher- 
ence to certain customs, seeking to 
mould and carve the ideas of a nobler 
and higher type of Christianity to 
its own opinions and prejudices ; still, 
when rightly interpreted, it is that 
which should govern our conduct in 
all the affairs of life. 

It may be safe for me to indulge in 
the daily use of wine at my table. I 
may perhaps be free from all danger 
of acquiring any undue love of strong 
drink thereby. But I should hesitate 
long ere I indulged in such a practice, 



31 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

when I remembered that the eyes of 
children were upon me, who, encour- 
aged by my example, might think 
themselves free to follow it, and thus 
be led peradventure to a life of vice — 
a drunkard's grave. Nor should I vol- 
untarily engage in any other course of 
conduct which should lead others into 
sin. The fact that it becomes to them 
a temptation, is enough to stamp upon 
what, in other circumstances, might be 
harmless, a guilty character, that should 
lead me to avoid it, as offensive in the 
sight of God. 

IV. Lastly, the Christian is guilty 
of an undue and sinful conformity to 
the world, when he engages in those 
scenes of pleasure and amusement 
which the world has appropriated ex- 
clusively to itself, and regards as a 
test of conformity thereto. There are 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 35 

scenes, in which pleasure is the great 
and only object ; where God is forgot- 
ten, and where every professing Christ- 
ian who enters the circle, might well 
hear the whisper of his own con- 
science, " What doest thou here ?" In 
these scenes no difference can be dis- 
cerned between him that serveth God 
and him that serveth him not ; and 
over their portal the world has in- 
scribed, " All who enter here are part 
of us." When one who professes to 
be the disciple of Christ is united to 
their assemblies, he is at once regarded 
as having left the ranks of his Mast- 
er's friends, and for the time at least, 
forgotten his vows and obligations, and 
laid aside his pilgrim's staff and sandals, 
and consented to be numbered with 
the children of the world. It is evi- 
dent that he sins who forgets the great 



36 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

command of his Saviour, u Be not con- 
formed to this world" — and who be- 
comes so connected with it as to pre- 
sent no evidence that he has ever pro- 
fessed to have been separated there- 
from. Then he brings reproach upon 
that sacred name with which he is 
called, and leads an ungodly and gain- 
saying world to pour contempt upon 
the blessed principles by which he pro- 
fesses to be guided. He breaks over 
the last barrier which the world has 
itself placed between it and the church 
— between religion and worldly pleas- 
ures — between holiness and sin. 

These simple rules in Christian casu- 
istry, while they may be open to the 
cavils of those who are guided by prin- 
ciples of worldly policy, are neverthe- 
less such as must commend themselves 
to all who regard the word of God as 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 37 

the only rule of faith and practice. 
They are in entire accordance with 
the teachings of the holy Scriptures. 

Every act of life may safely be 
brought to these tests : Will it unfit 
me for duty ? Will it lead me to sin ? 
May it lead others to sin ? Is it a 
recognized badge of conformity to the 
world ? And if we submit to these 
rules many of the amusements and 
pleasures which the world calls harm- 
less, shall we not find them to be sins, 
when indulged in by the professed 
child of God ? 

Can they bear the scrutiny of a con- 
science enlightened by the word and 
Spirit of God ? Are they promotive of 
personal piety, and can one go from 
them to his closet and enjoy sweet 
and intimate communion with God, or 
to the table of the Lord and feel no 

4 



38 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

sense of inappropriateness in his posi- 
tion as he looks up therefrom, and sees 
amid the spectators of that solemn or- 
dinance, his companions with whom he 
but lately figured at the opera or the 
theatre, or whose partner he was at 
the dance or the card-table ? Are not 
such scenes often the sure incentives 
to sin, both in ourselves and others, 
and are they not recognized as a badge 
of conformity to the world in its max- 
ims and customs? I am not deciding 
what may be plainly forbidden or not 
forbidden in the Scriptures. I do not 
seek to call this custom or that plea- 
sure, innocent or sinful. I would 
but leave it with the conscience of 
the reader, to settle the matter in 
view of the great principles of the 
gospel, and in the light of God's word. 
Let him subject his pleasures and 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 39 

recreations to these simple tests, and 
if he finds that they will meet them, 
let him freely engage therein; or if 
otherwise he is assured that when so 
weighed they are found wanting, let 
him honestly and cheerfully renounce 
them as offensive to God, and injurious 
to his own highest interests. 



40 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE WORLD VIEWED IN THE LIGHT OP 
ETERNITY. 

" But the end of all things is at hand ; be ye there- 
fore sober and watch unto prayer." " Seeing then 
that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner 
of persons ought ye to be, in all holy conversation and 
godliness V 

One who enjoyed more of earthly 
happiness and glory than any man can 
now hope to attain, who surrounded 
himself with every luxury that earth 
could afford, who "got to himself men 
singers, and women singers, and the 
delights of the sons of men," has left on 
record his own affecting testimony of 
the utter incapacity of all the pleasures 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 41 

of life to afford solid comfort to the 
soul, and written over them all, " Vanity 
of vanities." They could not meet the 
exigencies of his spiritual nature, nor 
fill the mind with that food which it 
craves. When therefore towards the 
close of life he reviewed its scenes and 
pleasures in the light which eternity 
began to shed upon his path, he gave 
to the world the results of his expe- 
rience, and warned the young of the 
dangers which would attend them, if 
they gave themselves up to seek after 
worldly pleasure, and of the disappoint- 
ment which they would surely meet 
in its pursuit. 

Summoning before him the youth in 
all his round of enjoyment, he uttered 
the solemn warning, "Rejoice, young 
man, in thy youth, and let thy heart 
cheer thee in the days of thy youth, 

4* 



42 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WAKNED. 

and walk in the wa}^s of thy heart, and 
in the sight of thine eyes; but know 
thou, that for all these things, God will 
bring thee into judgment." He would 
not, and did not teach him to go through 
life, warring with all that is lovely and 
cheerful, turning away from all that is 
pleasant and genial, rejecting all that 
can please the taste or charm the 
senses, and refusing pleasure, and 
happiness, and recreation, when the 
providence of God calls him to it, and 
spreads it before him. But he would 
have him, amid all the enjoyments of 
life, use the good things of this world 
with moderation, and remember the 
life to come, and the judgment to w 7 hich 
we are all hastening, when every act 
of life must be distinctly recalled, 
strictly scanned, and justly punished 
or rewarded. 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 43 

Whether the words just quoted are, 
as many affirm, simply an ironical con- 
cession to the vanities of life, intended 
to make the sentiment advanced more 
pungent, or whether the wise man in- 
tended to throw over youth a check 
which should moderate his enjoyment 
of life's pleasures, the important truth 
derived therefrom is unchanged, the 
antidote to a career of worldly pleasure 
and dissipation is the thought of eternity. 
Its solemn scenes are set forth as a 
means of restraining the fire and im- 
petuosity of youth, of correcting the 
disorder of the passions, and of check- 
ing the unhealthy growth of the appe- 
tites. Man is reminded that, though he 
may pass through life, walking in the 
ways of his heart, deceiving himself, it 
may be, with hopes of future happiness 
while yet a slave to lust, he must be 



44 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

compelled, at last, to look back upon 
every act and scene of life, and hear 
the irrevocable decision as to its 
character and desert. What a check 
should this thought be to sin, and to 
every pursuit or pleasure that may 
possibly interfere with the salvation 
of the soul ! How often would the 
victim of appetite dash the bowl from 
his lips, could he but hear the words of 
wisdom, " For all this God shall bring 
thee into judgment!" How often 
would the youth turn away from the 
haunts of dissipation, and folly, and 
vice, from the scenes of the revel and 
the resorts of the abandoned, did he 
hear the echo of these words upon his 
heart and conscience ! It is w T ise to 
look at all the actions of life in this 
light, to take the instructions of revela- 
tion, and with them anticipate that 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 45 

solemn day when the Judge of quick 
and dead shall descend from heaven on 
his great white throne and summon us 
to his bar. We ought, as rational and 
immortal beings, thus to weigh every 
object of life, and to decide in reference 
to our conduct, as we shall wish we 
had done when we shall be deep 
within the secrets of the eternal world. 
And while we are permitted to re- 
joice in all the goodness that a benefi- 
cent Providence spreads around our 
path; while we may indulge in any in- 
nocent and healthful recreation that 
unbends the mind and invigorates the 
body, and prepares us the better to 
resume the active and stern duties of 
life ; while we may enjoy every health- 
ful, social pleasure, and give free room 
for the exercise of all our natural pow- 
ers, we may find for all this an uner- 



46 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

ring guide and monitor in the thought 
of the judgment and eternity. Let the 
j^oung Christian who is doubtful as to 
the propriety of certain courses of 
pleasure, for which he finds neither a 
warrant nor prohibition in the Scrip- 
tures, and whose heart is, it may be, 
strongly inclining him to tread on un- 
certain ground, carry himself forward 
to that solemn event to which all are 
hastening, when he shall have met the 
last enemy, and his soul has tried the 
realities of eternity, and from the 
hushed repose of the grave, he comes 
forth with the countless hosts of the 
dead to look back upon life. 

1. Viewed in this light he will find 
that worldly pleasure is not the great 
end of existence. God has not placed 
us here that we may say, " Let us eat 
and drink, for to-morrow we die." 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 47 

He has formed us for high and noble 
purposes. He has breathed into us 
his own spiritual and intellectual na- 
ture, making us rational and moral be- 
ings, and giving to us souls that shall 
live when the heavens are no more. 
And he has fitted us to perform a part 
in the great and eventful scenes of 
life ; not like the moving images of a pa- 
geant, but like living and sentient be- 
ings, capable of thinking and acting un- 
der the power of truth and motives. 
And he has given us affections and 
powers of mind, which find their noblest 
field for exercise in loving and serving 
Him, whom angels love, and before 
whom seraphs bow and archangels 
worship. He has given us natures that 
can reason and think and love and soar 
upward in their search for truth, until 
they approach his throne and draw from 



48 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED, 

him exhaustless stores of knowledge 
and light and happiness. He has given 
us souls that may by his grace rise to 
glory unseen by mortal eyes, and un- 
conceived by the heart of man, or that 
if neglected will suffer endless misery 
and all the pains of the second death. 
He has given us affections which should 
fasten upon him as the supreme object 
of love. He has endowed us with tal- 
ents for the right improvement of which 
we are responsible to him, and influence 
which is to be used for the good of 
our fellow men and the promotion of 
the highest interests of our race. Even 
a consideration then of what we are 
and may be, and of what we may and 
ought to accomplish, is enough to indi- 
cate the propriety of the great rule 
which assures us, that man's chief end 
is not to seek after worldly pleasure, 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 49 

but to "glorify God and enjoy him 
for ever." And when we come to stand 
and look back on life from the light of 
the eternal world, shall we not acknow- 
ledge that worldly pleasure and selfish 
gratification was a most unworthy part 
of existence, and that he who lived for 
it alone, or who allowed it to interfere 
with the high and holy duties of life, 
fell far short of the station for which 
God designed him when he made him 
a living soul ? 

What if he were permitted to enjoy 
every sensual delight and all the jo}^s 
that earth can afford, would it have 
met the aspirations of the immortal 
soul and fulfilled its glorious destiny ? 
Who would not prefer the noble career 
of Paul, in all his self-forgetfulness and 
self-sacrifice, as he walked with God 

and glorified him, to that of the rich 
5 



50 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

man clothed in purple, and faring 
sumptuously every day, even could 
he at last have been saved as by fire ? 
The one living for eternity, and the 
other for time — the one finding his 
pleasure in the service of God, and 
the other in the service of appetite 
and of self — the one preparing him- 
self for high and glorious communion 
with his Maker and with the spirits of 
the just made perfect, the other sur- 
rounding himself with objects which 
at the best could afford but a short- 
lived gratification, and which made hea- 
venly things and eternal realities, dis- 
tasteful and unwelcome to his thoughts. 
Oh ! how little does he fulfil the 
great end of life, who goes with the 
multitude, saying, Who will show us 
any good ? and who in the search and 
enjoyment of worldly pleasure robs 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 51 

his soul of spiritual food and of holy 
enjoyment ! With what wonder must 
the angels look upon such an one, who 
has tasted that the Lord is gracious, 
going from the sanctuary and its 
blessed ordinances, to mingle in the 
vain and trifling amusements and pleas- 
ures of life ! How strange must ap- 
pear to them the conduct of him, 
who while possessing noble, spiritual 
powers and faculties that make his 
nature but a little lower than their 
own, busies himself with baubles, 
and carelessly wastes the precious 
hours of a life, none too long to fulfil 
its great purposes, in vain and worldly 
enjoyments which tend to wean the 
soul from duty, and to unfit it for the 
scenes and employments of heaven. 

2. Viewed in the light of eternity, 
earthly pleasure offers to it a strange 



52 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

and appalling contrast. Go even to 
the sick bed and set before the sufferer 
the gay recreations of life, and how 
utterly inappropriate are they to the 
place ! Enter the room where he lies 
struggling with disease and fearing 
the approach of death ; draw aside 
the curtains ; look upon his face pallid 
with exhaustion, or flushed with fever ; 
and while anxious friends are softly 
treading around his couch, and tend- 
erly ministering to his wants, tell him 
of the gay hours that have been spent 
by his companions, in the place of 
worldly mirth and joy— -describe to 
him the signal triumphs of the last 
new competitor for the applause of 
the fashionable world — the wonder- 
ful power of her voice, the magnifi- 
cence of her dress, and the appropri- 
ateness of her actions — tell him of the 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 53 

brilliant scenes of the ball-room, or 
the exciting contests of the card-table, 
and how utterly devoid of interest is 
all this in such an hour, and amid such 
scenes of suffering ! Oh ! what an 
utter and appalling contrast does it 
afford to that darkened chamber — 
that sad, care-worn countenance, and 
troubled and beating heart ! What an 
unwelcome intruder is worldly pleas- 
ure in such scenes as this ! And 
yet we are all hastening to the same 
sick and dying hour. And it ill be- 
comes us to permit our hearts to be 
absorbed in that which will make the 
thought of death and eternity unwel- 
come to us, or which shall unfit us to 
meet the solemn issue of life, and to 
enter upon the realities of the future 
world. It should be then a serious 
question, with him who is about to en- 
5* 



54 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

ter upon any pursuit or pleasure in re- 
gard to which his conscience is not 
fully enlightened, Will it fit me for a 
dying hour? will its memory be a 
source of happiness to me in that sol- 
emn occasion when my soul shall stand 
in the dawning light of the eternal 
world ? 

Such thoughts, while they will not 
hinder the Christian from the enjoy- 
ment of any rational pleasure, will 
temper his relish for earthly things, 
and will assist him greatly, when tempt- 
ed by the world to turn aside after its 
follies and vanities. It is wise for us 
to act, as we shall wish we had done 
when time shall be no more, and when 
we shall have entered upon that state 
of existence, for which this life is only 
preparatory, of which this world is 
but the portal. 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 55 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE DANGERS OF WORLDLY PLEASURE. 

" She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she 
liveth." " Let him that thinketh he standeth, take 
heed lest he fall." " I have somewhat against thee, 
because thou hast left thy first love." 

Nothing seems more improbable to 
the young Christian, whose heart is 
glowing with the fervour of its first 
love, than that he should ever lose the 
ardour of those new born affections, or 
return to the world to seek for pleasure 
there. Hence the cautions which come 
from those who are older and more ex- 
perienced in the divine life, respecting 
the dangers which will beset them from 
the world, seem misplaced and inap- 



56 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

propriate, and are looked upon as argu- 
ing a want of confidence in the sincer- 
ity of their professions. Yet here in 
the end proves to be one of their chief 
dangers, and a most. serious hindrance 
to their growth in grace. 

When the newly awakened and con- 
verted sinner first enters upon the 
Christian course, he appears for a while 
exempted from those fierce temptations 
under the power of which he has long 
lived in sin and neglect of the interests 
of the soul. 

He seems to live in a new world, and 
to breathe the very air of heaven. All 
the services of religion are delightful, 
and take the place for the time of the 
pleasures and pursuits of the world in 
which he hitherto has found his highest 
joy. He would, if it were possible, 
like the disciples on the Mount of 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 57 

Transfiguration, build a tabernacle that 
he might for ever dwell in the midst 
of such holy scenes. 

But duty summons him forth to the 
stern realities of life, and he finds him- 
self in the midst of a world that is no 

tl friend to grace 
To help him on to God." 

Society lays its claims upon him 
which he cannot forego. He must 
meet his former companions, with 
whom he has long trod the paths of 
sin and folly. And here his tempta- 
tions and his dangers begin. His gra- 
ces are not to be developed in solitude 
and monkish cloisters; their strength is 
to be tried by a contact with the 
world in all its varied aspects, and by 
severe tests, to which that world will 
subject his faith and his professions. 

The assaults which are made upon 



58 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

him are usually of an indirect character, 
so arranged as not to startle his con- 
science, except it be exceedingly wake- 
ful and tender; and designed to lead 
him astray by a gradual and almost im- 
perceptible process. He enters a cir- 
cle of friends, perhaps for an evening 
visit. There is music with all its fasci- 
nations, and to which no one can object 
as a pleasant recreation. And then a 
simple dance is suggested, and he is 
urged to join in it. Perhaps with- 
out him the recreation cannot be en- 
joyed. His conscience leads him to 
hesitate and decline. But he is urged 
by all the arguments which the world 
knows so well how to use, " What harm 
is there in it?" " Others dance who 
are Christians, and why should he ob- 
ject?" " There are not enough to 
complete the set unless he join them." 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 59 

He thinks of his solemn vows not to 
be conformed to this world. Yet he 
dislikes to offend, or to appear over- 
rigid and formal in his social inter- 
course, and so at length yields. When 
next he meets these friends, they have 
a new argument to use with him. 
"He has conformed to their wishes 
once, and there is no harm in doing so 
again." Were this to stop here, were 
no new snares to be thrown around 
him, it may seem an over-strained 
morality to object to w T hat has the 
semblance of a harmless, and innocent, 
and healthful recreation. 

But the sphere of his social pleasures 
gradually enlarges. If there is no sin 
in dancing with a circle of eight or ten, 
there is none in the large and fashionable 
entertainment to which he is invited, 
and where the chief pleasure of the 



60 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

evening is the dance with all its natural 
accompaniments, and with its terrible 
and demoralizing influences. When his 
conscience has thus become accustomed 
to the violation of principles which he 
had at first laid down as the law of 
his Christian life, it is not difficult for 
the world to introduce him to new 
pleasures, whose whole tendency is to 
break down the barriers which a tender 
and enlightened conscience would rear 
between the soul and danger. 

He has, perhaps, an exquisite taste 
for music, which he has been accus- 
tomed to gratify in the social circle, 
and in the concert room. But he is 
told how much more perfect and 
finished are the songs he hears and 
admires, when heard amid all the 
brilliant scenes of the opera. It may 
be, there is a struggle with his con- 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 61 

science when this new temptation pre- 
sents itself before him. Yet he de- 
termines to go once, and satisfy himself 
as to the results of that pleasure upon 
the mind and heart. The advent of 
some celebrated artist, whose praises 
are on the lips of the gay lovers of 
pleasure, furnishes a fitting occasion 
for the trial. Bewildered with the 
scene of enchantment which is spread 
out before him, charmed with the rich 
music that fills and entrances his soul, 
he retires from the spot unconscious 
that he has received any spiritual 
injury, and wondering, "why there can 
be objections against an amusement so 
ennobling and refining/' Nor, though 
he feels at length free to indulge his 
tastes in this direction when he pleases, 
does he see any discrepancy between 
his practice and his professions. 



62 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED, 

It is no great step now for him to 
visit the theatre, whose amusements 
differ but little from those with which 
he has become familiar. Nor does his 
conscience, deadened as it has become 
by worldly pleasure, perceive the taint 
which his soul is receiving from the 
immodest positions, the loose and im- 
moral sentiments, the low and obscene 
allusions, which too often are there 
permitted to pander to the lowest and 
basest passions of the frequenters of 
these scenes of worldly amusements. 
The high and ennobling sentiments, 
which he may have heard in the repre- 
sentations of the tragedy or the drama, 
are all effaced in the vulgar dances and 
afterpieces which follow. And insen- 
sibly his mind is receiving an injury 
from which it can only recover by a 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 63 

long, and bitter, and painful experience 
of sorrow and repentance. 

I have indicated in this description 
only one of the many forms in which 
the temptations of the world approach 
the young Christian, as an example of 
the dangers to which he is exposed by 
the slightest conformity to the world 
in its maxims and tastes. Let us now 
look at such an one thus led astray, and 
see what are the evils which his spirit- 
ual nature has experienced in thus 
yielding to the temptations which have 
been set before him, and what may be 
the probable result if he continue thus 
to go with the world in its pursuit of 
pleasure and amusement. 

1. One of the first and most natural 
consequences of the course he has fol- 
lowed is the injury which has been in- 
flicted upon his conscience. It has 



64 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

lost much of that tenderness and power 
which it possessed, when it first felt 
the renewing and quickening influences 
of the Spirit. Listening as he then 
did to its faintest whispers, and sub- 
jecting himself wholly to its guidance, 
it was a sure and safe guide which 
almost instinctively warned him of 
danger. And here in obeying its in- 
structions was his only safety. But 
when, under the influence of temptation, 
he ventured upon ground which, though 
not plainly forbidden in God's word, 
was yet of doubtful propriety; when 
meeting the warnings of conscience 
with the question, " What harm is there 
in it?" and so turning aside from its 
directions, he began a process of self- 
hardening which has been increasing 
until the inward monitor, if it be not 
wholly inactive, is yet confused in 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 65 

its interpretations of duty, and often 
is silent even amid plain and open in- 
fractions of the divine law. It is 
needless to argue respecting the danger 
of such a condition. When the light 
within is darkness, how great is that 
darkness ! He who has lost that 
tenderness of conscience on which we 
are dependent for all timely warnings 
against the assaults of sin, is like an 
army in the presence of an enemy at 
the dead of night, with its sentinels 
asleep, and so exposed momentarily to 
be surprised, and defeated, and de- 
stroyed. 

2. A second result of the course he 
is pursuing is the loss of all spiritual 
enjoyment. 

Lightly as the world may esteem 
religion as to its influence on our pre- 
sent happiness, it is a truth to which 

6* 



66 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

he who lives nearest to God can testify, 
that 

" Keligion never was designed 
To make our pleasures less." 

It has sources of joy which are infi- 
nitely above all those that this world 
possesses. But they are open only to 
those who have left the broken cisterns 
of earthly happiness, and have gone to 
the living fountains that w r ell forth from 
the throne of God. They only, who 
forsake all for Christ, shall receive 
manifold more in this present life, as 
well as everlasting life in the world to 
come. But he who, mistrusting the 
power of religion to find him happiness 
every where, and under all circum- 
stances, goes to the world for amuse- 
ment and pleasure, and is led by it 
into its dangerous and dissipating 
scenes, loses all relish for true spiritual 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 67 

enjoyment. As his interest in the world 
increases, his satisfaction in heavenly 
things diminishes. The living and 
growing Christian draws his sweetest 
pleasure from communion with God 
and his people. In the fervour of his 
first love he desires no other happiness 
than this. 

And if by watchfulness and prayer 
he is able, in the strength of divine 
grace, to resist the allurements of the 
world, need he ever descend from those 
holy and elevated affections, to seek 
for joy amid the scenes of earthly and 
sinful pleasures? The closet, with its 
blessed hours of communion with God; 
of meditation in his word and of praj^er 
for the blessings which the soul needs ; 
and the sanctuary with its varied means 
of grace, its cheerful services, its hal- 
lowed fellowship, are to the Christian a 



68 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

very foretaste of heaven. But to be en- 
joyed, the soul must have full sympa- 
thy with Christ, so that it can say, 
" Whom have I in heaven but thee ? and 
there is none upon the earth that I 
desire besides thee." But when a 
Christian has been drawn aside from 
his profession and his duties, when he 
has trodden upon doubtful and forbid- 
den ground, and become insensible to 
the claims of duty, and to the solemn 
obligations under which he rests as a 
member of the church of Christ, he 
loses insensibly his relish for heavenly 
things, and so finds at length that all 
spiritual enjoyment has left him. His 
closet is no longer a Bethel. If visited 
now, it is a spot barren, and cold, and 
devoid of interest. 

The place of prayer is like a desert, 
and even the sanctuary is resorted to 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 69 

with none of the exultant joy that 
caused the Psalmist to exclaim, "How 
amiable are thy tabernacles, Lord 
of hosts!" "I was glad when they 
said unto me, Let us go into the house 
of the Lord." 

Thus deprived of all fellowship with 
God and his people, where can he find 
comfort in religion, or joy in its ordi- 
nances ? He has but a name to live, 
conscience sometimes awakens and 
alarms him, for it cannot always sleep, 
nor can its power always be paralyzed. 
And then he seems for a time to come 
to himself, and endeavours to recover 
the position he has lost; but failing 
to go and cast himself wholly upon 
Christ, and presuming that before he 
can obtain peace, he must first perform 
a certain round of duty, he makes a 
feeble attempt at reformation, which is 



70 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

followed by a relapse into sin and 
folly, and a return to the pleasures of 
the world. Returning to his closet, he 
begins to feel the stings of an awaken- 
ing conscience, he looks back on broken 
vows and a dishonoured profession, and 
though for the time he resolves to lead 
a new life, the first blast of temptation 
again carries him into fresh acts of for- 
getfulness of God, and conformity to 
the world. Thus sinning and repent- 
ing, and repenting and sinning, he is a 
stranger to all true peace of mind and 
heart, and to the joys that are found 
in the communion and service of God, 
and in the fellowship of his people. 

3. Another result of this conformity 
to the world is, that it renders him 
useless as a member of the church of 
Christ. The object for which he is 
placed there is to honour God, and 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 71 

advance the interests of his kingdom. 
" Herein/' saith Christ, " is my father 
glorified, that ye bear much fruit." 

But he who allows himself to be 
drawn aside from his profession, and 
to become conformed to the world in 
its sinful tastes and amusements, loses 
not only the confidence of his brethren 
but the respect of the world. His in- 
fluence, as a Christian, ceases when he 
has crossed the line that divides the 
church and the world. Even the ene- 
mies of our holy religion respect and 
honour the man who leads a life con- 
sistent with his Christian profession, 
and look upon their lives as a strange 
and more convincing argument in fa- 
vour of the truth of Christianity than 
all the demonstrations of the defenders 
of the gospel. The logic of the life 



72 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

often succeeds where other testimony 
fails. 

But he who in effect tells the world 
that religion has no pleasures, and who, 
when he desires them, seeks for them 
amid scenes of gayety, and amusement, 
and dissipation, of what use is he as a 
witness for Christ ? What new lesson 
does he give of the value and power 
of religion ? What proof does he afford 
that " Wisdom's ways are pleasantness 
and all her paths are peace V 

So far from being a witness for Christ, 
he is leading men to question the 
reality of the religion he professes, and 
to despise the gospel whose effects he 
fearfully misrepresents. 

His example so far as it extends, is 
an injury to the cause he professes, 
whenever he passes over to the world 
and is led astray by its wiles. 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 73 

He cannot stand neutral. If he is 
doing no good, he is accomplishing evil. 
If the fig tree is barren, it is a cum- 
berer of the ground. The cause of 
religion suffers, whenever its professors 
fail to manifest its proper results. 
And Christ, were he questioned, " What 
are these wounds in thy hands ?" might 
answer, " Those with which 1 was 
wounded in the house of my friends." 

4. Such a state as I have described 
is one of imminent danger, because 
it may prepare the way for more 
fearful acts of sin, and a state of 
apostasy. Many a pleasure, in itself 
harmless, may lead to actual transgres- 
sion, and thus become a snare to the 
soul. Many a fair and flourishing pro- 
fessor has gone back to the world by 
parleying with temptation. 

Our own age and times have pro- 



74 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

duced more than one appalling exam- 
ple of men, who once stood high in 
the church, but who, yielding to the 
fascinations of pleasure^ that the world 
called innocent, were drawn down to 
ruin. No true Christian will indeed 
ever be lost, God's grace will keep him. 
Yet he who, resting on this assu- 
rance, encourages himself to sin, in the 
hope of being restored to the favour 
of God, is giving fearful evidence that 
he has neither part nor lot in the 
matter, and may be left to an entire 
and fatal departure from virtue, and 
so be placed wholly beyond the reach 
of mercy. 

" If," says Andrew Fuller, " we are 
contented with a relapsed state of 
mind, what grounds can we have to 
conclude that it is not our element? 
If the waters continue to be naught, 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 75 

it is a sign that the spring has not 
been healed. There is no reason to 
think that Judas himself laid his ac- 
counts with such an issue as things 
came to. During the ministry of our 
Lord, while he kept the bag, and 
sometimes made free with its contents, 
it is probable he nevertheless reckoned 
himself a good man. 

* He saw many failings in his fellow- 
disciples and in all other good men, 
and he might think this to be his. 
When he had covenanted with the 
chief priests, it does not appear that 
he expected his Master would be 
eventually taken and crucified. When 
they were about to lay hands on him, 
he had often passed through the midst 
of them, and went his way; and he 
might suppose that it would be so 
again. When therefore he saw that 



76 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

he was condemned, he was thrown 
into a state of terrible amazement, and 
in the issue went and hanged himself. 
Such was the process of an apostate, 
and such his end. Surely it warns us 
to take heed how we trifle with these 
things, the end whereof is death." 

If the heart of any young Christian 
recoils from the thought of the charac- 
ter and end of this apostate, let him 
avoid the first steps that lead to it. 
Let him heed the admonition of those 
who have learned by bitter experience 
the dangers of worldly pleasure, and 
seeking grace from on high ponder the 
paths of his feet, that all his ways 
may be established. Let him think 
that earthly and sensual enjoyment is 
too dearly purchased, when it deadens 
the conscience, making it less sensitive 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 77 

to the approach of evil ; when it deprives 
the soul of the enjo} r inent of communion 
with God and his people, and when it 
places him in jeopardy from future sins 
and from open and fatal apostasy. 

7* 



78 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 



CHAPTER V. 
SIGNS OF DECAY IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 

u Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith." 
*' Wo unto them that are at ease in Zion." u I 
have not found thy works perfect before God." 

The experience which has been de- 
scribed in the preceding chapter, often 
is attained by degrees so imperceptible 
as to leave the professing Christian un- 
conscious of the full extent of his de- 
parture from God. Failing to examine 
himself frequently as to his true posi- 
tion and the nature of the hopes within 
him, he passes on in a round of formal 
and heartless observances, and it is 
only occasionally that, under the pres- 
sure of some solemn warning, he is 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 79 

aware of what is going on within him, 
and of the terrible influences of the 
world upon his spiritual affections. 
The history which Bunyan has given 
(in his wondrous allegory) of the turn- 
ing aside of the Pilgrims into By-Path 
Meadow, and so into the grounds of 
Giant Despair, is a graphic illustration 
of the experience of those, who finding 
the way rough, seek some easier and 
more alluring path, which seems to 
run by the side of that which tends 
heavenward, but which insensibly leads 
them far astray. 

Satan does not, at once, present to 
the Christian the " great transgres- 
sion," but tempts him with " presump- 
tuous sins," and so, step by step, leads 
his soul astray. Did the pilgrim but 
look up at his way-marks, he might 
pause and retrace his steps, before he 



80 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

wholly backslides. It may be well 
then to pause and consider what are 
some of the tokens of decay in spiritual 
affections, which should warn the 
Christian that the path he is pursuing 
is one of danger. As there are signs 
of life and soul prosperity which can- 
not well be mistaken, though they 
may be counterfeited, as far as their 
outward manifestation is concerned, 
so also there are signs of decay which 
indisputably point the soul forward to 
sorrow, and uselessness, and guilt, and 
despair. And he who heeds them 
not will soon find himself in darkness 
and gloom, if he be a child of God, 
that will be to his soul like the horror 
of the valley of the shadow of death, 
and in which he must walk until his 
faith once more beholds in Christ his 
mighty Redeemer, and he returns to 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 81 

the great Shepherd and Bishop of his 
soul. Among these signs we notice, 

I. Indifference towards the assem- 
blies of God's people. As with the 
growing Christian his chief delight is 
with the saints, especially those whose 
religion is clear and unmistakable, 
so with the decaying Christian, the 
reverse of this is but too apparent. 
His attendance upon the ordinances 
of God's house is a matter which is 
left wholly to feeling, and not to the 
firm and conscientious conviction of 
duty. Slight causes now keep him 
away from the house of God, and from 
the place of prayer, and even from the 
table of the Lord. The ministrations of 
his own pastor do not please him, 
though he knows them to be the solemn 
and sincere utterances of the truth of 
God. He quarrels with the matter 



82 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WAKNED. 

or the manner, and often absents him- 
self from his own sanctuary that he 
may hear and see some strange things, 
being far more anxious for novelty and 
excitement, than to be "fed with the 
sincere milk of the word that he may 
grow thereby." 

If he comes to the house of God, it 
is more from fear of the censures of 
the church, than from the thought that 
the eye of Christ is upon him ; and he 
is so little prepared for the solemn as- 
semblies of God's people, that the hour 
of meeting them finds him in the 
midst of the world and its pleasures, 
from which he goes to the sanctuary 
with an utter want of reverence for its 
services, and wholly unfitted to profit 
thereby. 

II. A second sign of decay is the 
loss of interest in the duties of the 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 83 

closet. This indeed is the source of 
the evil, yet it also becomes a land- 
mark which shows his downward 
progress. As the world creeps in, 
the spirit of devotion retires. He 
finds the time that he devotes to the 
work of prayer and meditation on God's 
truth sensibly diminishing. Reading 
the Scriptures becomes a burthen, 
wandering thoughts in time of pra} r er 
are entertained, and the world comes 
in a welcome guest even to his closet, 
and stands between his soul and God. 
His utterances of devotion are 
formal and lifeless. He looks over, 
but does not, as once, study — drink in 
the precious truths of the Bible. He 
prefers the novel, the magazine, the 
newspaper — any thing that speaks of 
the world and its pleasures — to that 
blessed gospel, whose instructions make 



84 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

man wise unto eternal life. To him it 
is a sealed book. Its fountains are 
dried, its pages are but a barren desert. 
He hurries over a chapter and closes 
the volume, and repeats a form of 
words which he calls prayer, and passes 
away to the world to find his delight 
and pleasure there. 

III. A third sign of decay is found 
in his growing disinclination to self- 
denial. Care for the body takes the 
place of care for the soul. Duties 
that require the taking up of the cross 
are neglected. Ease and pleasure are 
preferred to the yoke of Christ. 
Works of Christian charity and mercy 
are abandoned, because they interfere 
with other engagements, or require 
some exertion and toil. And even the 
name of Christ and the honour and 
glory of his truth are betrayed by 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 85 

silence, when sinners seek to throw 
discredit upon them, rather than take 
up the cross and endure the suf- 
fering and disparagement which may 
come to those who seek to defend the 
religion of Jesus. 

IY. The decaying Christian finds 
fearful tokens of his downward pro- 
gress in the little anxiety and distress 
he has when conscious that he has 
committed sin. Aggravated acts of 
transgression now appear small to 
him, and he thinks upon them with 
indifference, while the thought of his 
bosom lust and his besetting sin is far 
more prevalent with him than any wish 
to please and serve God. 

So long as his miscarriages are kept 
from the eye of the church, he is little 
troubled concerning them. His chief 
care is to maintain a decent appearance 



86 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

among men, to have the form of godli- 
ness and the words of Christ's disciples, 
while he has no special anxiety that 
his thoughts, and motives, and affec- 
tions should be right in the sight of 
God. Slight offences make him im- 
patient, and under their influence he 
often commits great sin. Slight temp- 
tations are yielded to without a strug- 
gle, nay he places himself often within 
the reach of evil with little thought 
of what are to be the results upon his 
soul. 

V. The decaying Christian is un- 
willing to listen to kind and faithful 
admonition. They who deal truly 
with him, and seek to warn him of his 
danger and guilt, are regarded as his 
enemies. He shuns their society; he 
dislikes their conversation ; he resents 
their counsels as impertinent and un- 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 87 

desirable. And as the very walk and 
example of those who live near to God 
is a constant rebuke to his coldness 
and worldliness, he shuns their society 
and prefers that of the enemies of 
Christ and his people. His experience 
is the reverse of that which the Psalm- 
ist possessed when he said, "Let the 
righteous smite me, and it shall be a 
kindness; and let him reprove me, it 
shall be an excellent oil which shall 
not break my head." 

VI. The decaying Christian finds 
himself less and less susceptible to the 
motives of the gospel. A watchful 
care over himself and conduct, and a 
godly walk and conversation are rather 
the result of accident than of settled 
habit, drawn out in view of the great 
truths and doctrines of the word of 
God. The thought of a Saviour suf- 



88 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

fering and dying for sin, the love of 
Christ, the inhabitation of the Spirit, 
the holiness and majesty of the great 
God, the interests of the church — 
these, and all the other motives to 
holiness which are set forth in the 
word of life, cease to restrain him from 
acts which tend to bring reproach upon 
that name which he has professed. 
The heart has become cold and dead 
to those truths and principles which 
once exercised a controlling influence 
over his conversation and life. 

VII. The decaying Christian be- 
comes more and more averse to any 
proper self-inspection. He is unwill- 
ing to look into his own heart. He 
loves not to apply to himself the 
searching truths of the gospel. He is 
so ignorant of his true spiritual stand- 
ing as to know not whether he is ad- 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 89 

vancing or retrograding, whether he is 
growing or declining in grace. His 
closet exercises, if continued, are never 
improved as occasions of turning his 
thoughts within, and examining him- 
self in the light which the word of 
God might shed upon him, and he is 
wholly a stranger to all proper and 
practical meditations upon the truths 
that, if self-applied, would convince him 
of sin and show him the evil that is 
within him. 

VIII. Lastly the decaying Christian 
finds his whole experience a sad and 
painful reverse of that which marks 
the living and growing child of God. 

Prayer is a burthen; duty is un- 
welcome ; calamity in the house of 
God awakens no sorrow in his heart ; 
the most solemn worship quickly 
wearies him ; he is satisfied with him- 



90 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

self, small occasions keep him away 
from the sanctuary, the Bible ceases 
to be loved and valued as a precious 
treasure, the work of the Holy Spirit 
in his sanctification is undervalued and 
unsought. Bosom lusts are nursed 
and cherished ; open sins are often 
committed without pain, and reflected 
upon with indifference ; novelties are 
preferred to sound doctrine ; the com- 
pany of the world is sought after, and 
that of the people of God is shunned. 
Pleasure is preferred to self-denial, even 
though it leads the soul astray. The 
affections are withdrawn from Christ, 
and all sensible evidence of his love 
and grace has departed. 

He has a name to live, but is dead. 
He moves amidst the church, but his 
heart is dead to its holy joys, his in- 
terest in its ordinances has declined, his 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 91 

love for its members has grown cold, 
his zeal for its prosperity has decayed ; 
he stands in the garden of the Lord, 
but there is no fruit brought forth to 
perfection. 

He professes to know God, but in 
works he denies him. His interests, 
his tastes, his affections, are with the 
world and its wealth, its pursuits and 
honours and pleasures. He has upon 
him the evident tokens of one who has 
departed wholly from the right way, 
and who, unless restored by grace to the 
path of holiness, will be left to mourn 
at the last, " How have I hated in- 
struction and despised reproof !" 



92 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 



CHAPTER VI. 

DIRECTIONS TO THE BACKSLIDER. 

" Israel, return unto the Lord thy God, for thou 
hast fallen by thy iniquity." u Eemember therefore 
from whence thou art fallen, and repent and do thy 
first works." il Return ye backsliding children, and 
I will heal your backslidings." 

It would be strange indeed if none 
into whose hands this book may fall 
could feel that the subject of this 
chapter is adapted to their case. It is 
a sad truth that among those who pro- 
fess godliness there are many who, 
under the influence already alluded to, 
have permitted their spiritual affections 
to become cold, and their zeal to de- 
cline, until they have lost all evidence 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 93 

of being children of God ; while others, 
who have a name to live, are conscious 
of heart wanderings and of secret 
backslidings, which if not checked may- 
lead to open and fearful apostasy. 
Were one to pass through the church 
and address to every member a ques- 
tion, How stands the matter between 
your soul and God? The answers he 
would receive, if they were the honest 
expressions of the heart, would aston- 
ish even those who knew them most 
intimately. Many come to the altar 
of God whose hearts know none of 
that exceeding joy and peace, which is 
said to be the result of faith in the 
Lord Jesus Christ. 

There was a time when such found 
joy and peace in believing. You en- 
tered upon the Christian life with the 
full determination to consecrate your- 



94 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

self wholly to Christ. And for a while 
you ran well. Your closet was a fav- 
oured resort, and the tabernacles of 
God were amiable. And when you 
stood up before many witnesses, and 
professed unalterable attachment to 
Christ and his cause, and vowed to 
walk in all the ordinances of his house 
blameless, you did nothing more than 
obey the promptings of your heart, 
moved by a sense of love to the Sa- 
viour, and an earnest desire to obey 
all his commands. In these blessed 
days of your first love, how tender 
was the conscience ! how sensitively 
it shrank from the first approaches of 
sin ! how you avoided any act which 
might bring dishonour upon that sacred 
name you had professed ! how care- 
fully you abstained from the very ap- 
pearance of evil! refusing to engage 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 95 

in any pursuit or pleasure that might 
be looked upon as inconsistent with 
the promises you had made. The sal- 
vation of your soul was to you the 
one thing needful, whose pursuit j~ou 
were disposed henceforth to make the 
great business of life. You loved God, 
and wished to be wholly his; you 
loved his church and its ordinances; 
you loved his people, and found de- 
light in communion with them. 

Yet there became evident at length 
to yourself and others painful symp- 
toms of a decay in your spiritual af- 
fections and experience. You know 
too well how it commenced, and you 
can trace it to its sad results. Your 
brethren and the world first became 
aware of it, in the diminished interest 
you manifested in religious subjects, 
and in the performance of religious 



96 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

duties. But you know that the evil 
began in the wanderings of the heart 
from God. Your closet witnessed that 
declension first. Your Bible was less 
frequently and seriously studied, and 
your faith lost its lustre and power. 
Then you became restless and dissatis- 
fied. The ordinances of the sanctuary 
lost their interest. You thought the 
fault was in others, and you laid it at 
their doors. Your brethren seemed to 
be changed. Your pastor seemed to 
have grown dull and lifeless. The 
church appeared barren and cold, and 
you went away in search of novelties 
and excitement, little dreaming that 
the fault was with yourself, and that 
your own heart was the seat of the 
difficulty. Then you began to yield 
your former convictions of duty to the 
claims of the world. You took an un- 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 97 

wonted interest in its pleasures and 
social enjoyments. You looked to the' 
pomp and vanities you had once re- 
nounced, and to the amusements which 
you once thought unworthy a Christ- 
ian's notice ; and asking yourself what 
harm there could possibly be in all 
this, and justifying yourself by the 
practice of some whom you knew to 
be professors of the religion of Jesus, 
3 r ou entered the world with all your 
heart and gave yourself up to all its fas- 
cinations. Sometimes when conscience 
rebuked you, you made a feeble effort 
at resistance, and sought to lead a life 
that should honour your profession. 
But mistaking the only way of return, 
you found yourself still wandering in 
a devious path, from whose mazes you 
had no power to extricate yourself. 
Then you parleyed with temptation ; 

9 



98 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

you listened to the solicitations of 
your own heart, a'nd so turned aside to 
sin. Perhaps some former appetite 
or lust, which you had long thought 
dead, revived and returned to you 
with fresh power, and made you 
again its captive. You permitted your 
thoughts to dwell on some forbidden 
act, until it lost its hatefulness,and you 
were again bound in its fetters. You 
became entangled in your own corrup- 
tion, and fell into the snare of your own 
sinful affection. One sin prepared the 
way for another, and weakened the 
power of resistance, until now you can 
commit sin without fear, and think 
upon it with indifference. Where this 
will end you know not. 

You have no peace of mind ; you 
dare not give up all hopes of heaven ; 
you are unwilling to give up the world. 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 99 

You are in trouble and perplexity; 
3 r our heart is not at rest. You come 
to the table of the Lord, but hear a 
voice saying, " What doest thou here ?" 
You know that your course is noticed 
by others, and is an occasion of offence. 
You know that the church feels your 
defection, and mourns over it. You 
know that God looks upon your con- 
duct, and hides his face from you. 

You have lost his smile. Guilt op- 
presses you ; shame weighs down your 
spirit ; fears alarm you. You dread 
the censures of the church ; the flame 
of holy love is quenched ; hope has 
fled from the heart, and all your 
Christian graces are enervated and 
paralyzed. Against these fearful in- 
roads of sin you have made repeated 
but ineffectual efforts at resistance. 

You have resolved to be more atten- 



100 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

tive to the duties of the sanctuary ; 
to visit the place of prayer, and to be 
less occupied with the world. You 
have thought thus to recover your 
former spiritual standing. Yet, alas ! 
how soon did you prove your impo- 
tence, as you again yielded to the 
claims of ease and self and the world, 
and so lapsed into coldness and indif- 
ference ! 

You have resolved to resist temp- 
tation; but your struggles with your 
master sin have been like those of 
the poor insect entangled in the spider's 
web. A slight lull in the breath of 
the tempest has led you to hope that 
the storm had passed ; and you have 
ventured forth only to see all your 
fair resolutions swept away. Your 
bosom lusts, and your darling passions 
and appetites, have retained their fear- 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED." 101 

ful influence over you ; and you have 
gone forth even from your closet, to 
yield to the tempter, and to give your- 
self up an easy and a willing prey to 
his cruel devices. 

Resting under false impressions of 
the nature and end of self-examina- 
tion, you try to look into your own 
heart, and to enquire what are your 
hopes for eternity. But all is dark- 
ness, and you turn away from the 
sight in fear and pain. You feel that 
you are unprepared to meet God in 
judgment ; that you have no enjoy- 
ment of religion, no satisfaction in 
your present condition ; that you are 
useless members of the church of 
Christ, exerting no proper influence 
for good over the hearts and lives of 
others ; and that you have no power 
to resist the temptation that brings on 



102 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

you fresh remorse, and may perhaps 
plunge you in disgrace and ruin. 
Your condition is dark and gloomy, 
but it is not hopeless. Your heavenly 
Father addresses to you the same 
gracious invitation that he extended to 
his ancient people : " Return, ye back- 
sliding children, and I will heal your 
backslidings." His heart goes out 
after you with all the yearnings of a 
father. 

The good shepherd, who missed from 
his fold but one sheep, seemed for the 
time to forget those which went not 
astray, in his anxiety for the poor 
wanderer. The whole love of the fa- 
ther seems to centre in his poor prodi- 
gal, in a far country, hungry and faint, 
and in beggary and want. So God 
looks upon his people who wander 
from him. His eye is upon them ; 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 103 

his love follows them ; his tender pity 
goes out after them ; his kind invita- 
tions are sent forth to bring them 
back from their wanderings. 

thou who sittest in deep dejec- 
tion, fearing lest God has wholly for- 
gotten to be gracious, who art con- 
scious of a neglect of duty, and of a 
violation of covenant vows and obliga- 
tions, listen to the call which a kind 
and gracious God sends after thee. 
He utters no reproach, he makes no 
threatening, though thou hast wan- 
dered from him and cast off his fear, 
and exposed thyself to his wrath. 
He calls thee his child. He may re- 
prove and discipline and chasten thee, 
but he yet indicates toward thee all 
the love of a father and a God. 

But let us notice the method by 
which the wanderer is to be restored. 



104 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

God's command is one that calls us back 
to himself. No true peace will ever be 
enjoyed by him who has strayed from 
duty, until he finds his way back to 
Christ. 

Yet it is unhappily true, that as the 
unconverted sinner seeks in many 
ways to find ease from the pangs of 
an awakened conscience, so the fallen 
Christian often endeavours to regain 
his former position by means that only 
indicate a fearful ignorance of the 
great doctrines of the gospel, which as- 
sure us that we can be justified only 
by faith in the sacrifice and merits of 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and not by any 
work or obedience of our own. 

Often when the professing Christian 
finds himself in a state of declension 
and coldness, when he is conscious that 
he is living in the neglect of duty, in 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 105 

conformity to the world, he resolves 
that he will commence a new life, and 
break off from his sinful habits, and 
repent and do his first works: By 
this means he hopes to find relief from 
the pangs of an awakened conscience. 
Yet when he has tried to fulfil his 
resolutions, he finds, as he looks back 
in his experience, that he is no better 
than when he first began his reforma- 
tion. Or perhaps under the alarm 
which he has felt at the thought of 
some glaring defection, he has desisted 
from the practice of what he knows to 
be wrong, and begins to derive some 
comfort from the fact, and to hope that 
his spiritual state is improving. Yet 
he has only lost the vivid impressions 
of his transgressions, and is still liable 
at the next assault of the tempter to fall 
back into open or secret sin. Such is 



106 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

not the gospel method of restoring the 
soul out of the depths into which it 
has fallen. 

The branch which has become fruit- 
less will not be recovered by nos- 
trums and treatment administered to 
its withering leaves. The vine-dresser, 
who seeks to restore it to vitality, 
does not prune and trim it ; but, find- 
ing that it is almost broken from its 
parent stock, he seeks to reunite it 
thereto, and so bind it fast, that it 
may once more receive from the root 
nourishment and strength. 

So he who finds himself fruitless 
and lifeless, will never recover spiritual 
vitality by simple efforts to break off 
from sin and to perform duty. Yet 
here is where many stumble, and make 
a mistake that is fatal to their peace 
of mind and growth in grace. The 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 107 

very first act of the backslider, ere he 
attempts to do any outward duty, or 
to improve his character and Christian 
experience, is to cast himself wholly 
on the Lord Jesus Christ, as though 
he had never before exercised faith in 
him. He must come in the attitude 
of a poor, guilty, and hell-deserving 
sinner, having no work to entitle him 
to the divine favour, and make a fresh 
application to the blood of Christ, by 
which alone the guilt of sin can be 
washed away ; and to the merits and 
obedience of Christ, by which alone 
he can be justified in the sight of God. 
This is the direction that comes to 
him from the sacred oracles, " Return 
unto me." Yet many a Christian 
spends years in darkness, and a most 
unhappy religious experience of doubts 
and sins and repentings, because he 



108 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

fails to seek for rest in the same way 
in which he first found peace in believ- 
ing. The act of faith, by which he 
first ventured on Christ, needs to be 
renewed daily. It must be renewed 
with every consciousness of sin. His 
return must be to God, not to his own 
works. Nor must he pause to make 
himself better, nor wait until the sense 
of sin has lost its vividness, nor linger 
until he has paid a sort of penance by 
his own unhappiness and sorrow ; but 
come at once, with all his sins before 
him, acknowledging his transgressions, 
confessing his guilt, and depending for 
mercy, and looking for hope, only 
through the merits and death of 
Christ. 

None but Christ can heal the hurt 
of the daughter of his people. The 
only safe course is to go to him, as 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 109 

though we had never gone before, 
washing afresh in the fountain he has 
opened for sin and uncleanness. There 
David went and cried, " Purge me 
with hyssop, and I shall be clean ; wash 
me, and I shall be whiter than snow." 
It was only by the cross of Christ 
that he sought relief from the pangs 
of a troubled conscience ; and it is 
only here that any soul can be healed. 
It is only thus that we can begin 
again to walk in the Spirit. Sin is 
most successfully opposed, not by di- 
rect assaults upon it, but by the intro- 
duction of holy principles. A man 
that is a profane swearer or a drunk- 
ard, may, in his self-righteousness, 
cease from these sins, and yet be 
guilty of some others equally offensive 
to God. But when he has gone to 

Christ and has tasted of his love ; 
10 



110 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

when he has stood by his cross and 
felt his pardoning grace ; when he has 
washed in his blood and known its 
cleansing power; the strength of sin 
dies within him, and he begins to lead 
a new life, whose springs are found 
in Christ and in him alone. 

So the Christian who has lost the 
fervour of his first love, and has fallen 
into sinful departures from God, may 
dry up one evil stream, but another 
will burst forth afresh, full of bitter- 
ness and sorrow. He may lop off one 
branch that is fruitless, but another 
will soon die, or its fruit become un- 
wholesome, and its leaves wither. 
And so will it continue, until he re- 
turns to God, not only by repentance, 
but with a simple faith in the sacrifice 
and righteousness of his Son. Here 
is the secret of a restoration to the di- 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. Ill 

vine favour and to holy living. Here 
is the only source of true peace of 
mind and heart. The man who at- 
tempts to work out a religious experi- 
ence of joy and assurance, and a con- 
sistent and godly life, by a round of 
duties, and by abstinence from sins, 
without any reference to Christ as 
both the author and finisher of his 
faith, will miserably fail. He will 
have only a series of defeats and 
doubts, of repentings and sins. He 
who would be safe must have his life 
hid with Christ in God. 

The sum of all genuine Christian 
experience is contained in these words : 
" looking unto Jesus." In that sight 
there is not only the life of the soul, 
but the death of sin ; and no one will 
wander far astray who walks simply 
by faith. While he who is conscious 



112 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

of fearful departures from the way of 
peace, who has fallen into temptation 
and sin, will be restored to hope and 
joy only when he once more catches a 
sight of the cross. To that let him 
return. There let him stand and wash 
in the sacred flood that wells forth 
from his side who hansrs thereon and 
then shall he once more have occasion 
to sing of redeeming love and mercy. 
Hell and sin may resist his course, but 
Christ will give him strength. He 
may be called to war against principal- 
ities and powers, but his great Captain 
will lead him on to victory : 

11 And slay his sins and end the strife.' 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 113 



CHAPTER VII. 
HAPPINESS ONLY IN GOD. 

11 Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in 
the time that their corn and their wine increased." 
u Happy is the man that findeth wisdom." li My 
yoke is easy and my burden is light." 

The object for which these cautions 
have here been uttered against a con- 
formity to the world in its customs 
and pleasures, will have been wholly 
misapprehended if it be supposed that 
my design is to rob the young Christ- 
ian of one real pleasure, or call him to 
a life of moroseness and gloom, or take 
from him one smile of true joy. 

There is a world of ripe and blessed 

Christian experience in the answer 
10* 



114 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

given in the Shorter Catechism to the 
question, " What is the chief end of 
man ¥.' viz : " To glorify God and en- 
joy him for ever." It connects happi- 
ness here and hereafter with his ser- 
vice ; and its truth is abundantly sus- 
tained in the history of the church in 
every age. The Psalmist, from a full 
experience of the Christian life, left 
as his testimony, even amid many 
sorrows, " There be many that say, 
Who will shew us any good ? Lord, 
lift thou up the light of thy counten- 
ance upon us. Thou hast put glad- 
ness in my heart more than in the 
time that their corn and their wine in- 
creased." Never does the carnal heart 
judge more unjustly of God, than 
when it regards his service as a bur- 
then, and calls him a hard master. 
Never does man more surely seek hap- 






THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 115 

piness where alone it is to be found, 
than when he consecrates himself with 
all his impulses and affections to God, 
rendering prompt and cheerful allegi- 
ance to his government, conforming to 
his law, and leaving all to follow 
Christ. 

Let us question the people of God 
in every age, and see if they have not 
had most of true and lasting happiness 
even in the present life, who have en- 
joyed most of communion with God, 
and have voluntarily and cheerfully 
surrendered the world with its pleas- 
ures and customs, that they might find 
them all in Christ. The man, who, of 
all the ancient church, stands forth in 
a light and glory almost superhuman, 
and who, in his near approaches to God, 
became so glorious in the reflection of 
his light, as that the people could not 



116 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

look upon him, refused the honours of 
the court of Egypt, and turned away 
from its splendour, choosing rather to 
suffer affliction with the people of God, 
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for 
a season. Who shall say now that he 
did not act wisely ? Who can doubt 
that, amid all the outward sorrows he 
was called to endure, he had a spring 
of holy joy and pleasure within, which 
flowed on through all the desert with 
its sweet and unfailing refreshment ? 
Look too at David, who was bearing 
daily testimony to the happiness that 
is found in God ; and who, when the 
world was laying its riches and hon- 
ours at his feet, could stand in the 
very heyday of life, and say to his 
God and Saviour, "Whom have I in 
heaven but thee ; and there is none 
upon the earth that I desire besides 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 117 

thee." And when we come to a later 
age, and ask of the holy Paul where 
the highest joy and happiness is found, 
his answer is clear and distinct : " For 
me to live is Christ." From the hour 
that it pleased God to call him into 
his kingdom, he conferred not with 
flesh and blood. He laid aside every 
weight. He allowed nothing to en- 
cumber him in his earnest efforts to 
honour God. The world lured him in 
vain. He had tasted its pleasures and 
found them unsatisfying. He had tried 
the service of Christ, and knew that it 
fully met the longings and the wants of 
his soul, Nor were occasions wanting 
in which the ability of Christ to sus- 
tain and comfort him was tested, but 
it never failed. Scourged and bruised, 
and with his feet fast in the stocks, 
he could sing praises at midnight. 



118 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

Persecuted and cast down, he was not 
forsaken. Nothing could check the 
ardour with which he sought to hon- 
our God ; nothing could equal the full 
and ceaseless comforts that flowed in 
upon his soul from the love and grace 
of Christ. He counted all things but 
dross for the excellency of the know- 
ledge of Jesus, his Saviour. Look at 
his life and experience, and see if he 
did not possess in perfection the secret 
of true happiness. 

Nor is his experience singular in 
this respect. Never has God been to 
any of his people " a wilderness and a 
land of darkness." He has made am- 
ple provision for securing their happi- 
ness even here. Were it the fact, as 
many seem to believe, that religion 
calls us to follow a cold and gloomy 
pathway ; and that when it bids us 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 119 

renounce the world, and be no longer 
conformed thereto, it draws us away 
from all that is lovely and beautiful in 
life, there would still be no doubt that 
its offers were worthy our prompt and 
hearty acceptance. Admit that God 
calls on us to win heaven by a series 
of self-inflicted tortures and morti- 
fications, that would turn this beauti- 
ful world into all the gloom and horror 
of a hermit's cave, or the cloister of a 
monk, is not the prize worthy the self- 
denial ? Yet we are called to no such 
penances. " The yoke of Christ is 
easy, and his burthen is light." " Wis- 
dom's ways are pleasantness, and all 
her paths are peace." There is not one 
of the requirements of the gospel 
which is not fitted, if fully and cheer- 
fully obeyed, to elevate and dignify 
and ennoble man's nature, and to make 



120 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

him, even in this life, happier than it is 
possible for the most earnest votary 
of worldly pleasure and ambition to 
become. 

I do not say that the meagre and 
miserable Christianity, too prevalent 
at the present day, which holds on to 
the world with all its fashions and 
follies and vanities, and drinks of its 
broken cisterns, while it seeks some- 
times, under the lashes of a convicted 
conscience, to hold communion with 
Grod; which is unwilling to renounce 
either the world or the hope of hea- 
ven ; which sins and repents, and re- 
pents and sins again ; which goes from 
the communion table, and from sol- 
emn vows of consecration to Christ, 
to mingle again with the children of 
pleasure at the dance, the theatre, the 
opera, or the card table — that such 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 121 

Christianity is productive of any peace. 
I wonder not, such men being the 
example of what religion can do, that 
some may entertain the suspicion that 
the service of God is a wilderness and 
a land of darkness. 

But is this a fair illustration of what 
that service is ? This I say, that he 
who throws himself wholly on the side 
of Christ; who, when he takes him 
for a Saviour, takes him for his present 
and his eternal portion ; who fully re- 
gards himself as no longer his own, 
but belonging entirely in all his time, 
influence, possessions, sympathies, and 
impulses to Christ, can testify that his 
yoke is easy, not only; but can chal- 
lenge the world with all its pleasures, 
to produce one such thrill of pure and 
holy joy as he feels in his hours of 
nearest communion with God, and 
11 



122 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WAENED. 

of most self-denying consecration to 
his service. 

Ask of all the great cloud of wit- 
nesses, who have been washed in the 
blood of Christ, if this is not so. Go, 
ask the glorified saints, who endured a 
great fight of afflictions, and of whom 
the world was not worthy, whether 
the service of God was ever a burden ; 
whether their hours of prayer and 
holy communion were like the deso- 
late sands on which no rain falls, nor 
dew distils, and over which no verdure 
nor sweet flowers spread their beauty. 
Ask whether their years of earnest la- 
bour and toil for the upbuilding of the 
Redeemer's kingdom, and the salvation 
of souls, were degrading in their influ- 
ence, and gloomy and forbidding in 
their results; and whether the mem- 
ory of their hours of consecration to 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 123 

God, brings even now a shade of sor- 
row over their spirits. 

Oh, how does the answer that swells 
from every happy saint, repel the un- 
just accusation and suspicion ! Never 
in all the history of the past has God 
wearied his people ; never has he 
asked them to renounce a single claim 
of self and ease, which he has not 
fulty made up with sweet and holy 
joy, that has been to the soul a very 
antepast of heaven. 

Never is Christ to any that truly 
love and serve him, a root out of a dry 
ground. Thousands of living witness- 
es can testify to the happiness which 
springs from him. Go to the humble 
Christian who lives near to God, who 
meditates in his word, who makes the 
sanctuary his home, who devotes his 
time to the earnest and faithful duties 



124 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

of a Christian life, and ask him what 
testimony he gives for Christ. 

Go to that godly father or that pious 
mother whose forms have always been 
associated with the Bible and the 
sanctuary, and ask if they have ever 
found religion a burthen; and how 
will every evidence they bear to the 
preciousness of Christ, and the joy of 
his service, throw back the unjust sus- 
picion which the world, and too many 
in the church cherish, as to the happi- 
ness that may be derived, even in the 
present life, from entire devotion to 
God ! The sincere, and humble, and 
self-denying Christian ought to be, and 
is, the happiest of the happy. The 
springs of his pleasure never dry — 
they well forth from the throne of 
God, and are exhaustless. And to a 
service thus abundantly calculated to 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 125 

elevate the soul, and fill it with sacred 
pleasure, you are invited ; you have 
connected yourself with the visible 
people of God ; you profess to have 
received the high and holy calling of 
those whom God has chosen to be 
his children. If you have not been 
deceived in your religious experience, 
you have found peace and joy and bles- 
sing. You can look back on the time 
when 

" first you felt 
The Saviour's pardoning blood, 
Applied to cleanse your soul from guilt, 
And bring you home to God." 

Can you not testify that then in the 
fervour and power of your new born 
hope and love, you found a happiness 
which far surpassed all that you had 
ever before experienced amid the sin- 
ful pleasures of life ? And can you, 
11* 



126 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

when you have tasted that the Lord 
is gracious, return to that world which 
you have found only a snare, and which 
you know would, if possible, lead your 
soul astray ? 

Seek then your happiness only in 
God. He has never deceived you. 
His service is a rich reward. He calls 
no one to a life of sorrow and gloom, 
" Light is sown for the righteous, and 
gladness for the upright in heart/' 
" No good thing will the Lord withhold 
from them that walk uprightly." Such 
are the promises of God's word, and 
they who cast themselves wholly upon 
the Lord, and who engage most heart- 
ily in his service, will have an experi- 
ence of rich and abundant blessing, 
and of pure and exhaustless pleasures 
which the world can neither give nor 
take away. 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 127 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE CHRISTIAN'S HIGH CALLING. 

u ^Yalk worthy of God who hath called you unto 
his kingdom and glory." " But ye are a chosen gen- 
eration, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a pecu- 
liar people, that ye should show forth the praise of 
Him who hath called you out of darkness into his 
marvellous light." u According as he hath chosen 
us in him before the foundation of the world, that we 
should be holy and without blame before him in love." 
a I have chosen you that ye should go and bring 
forth fruit." 

From the consideration of the dan- 
gers which beset the Christian in his 
contact with the world, and the tempt- 
ations which too often draw the pro- 
fessed child of God aside from duty 
and true happiness, I would turn the 



128 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

thoughts of my young readers to the 
high and holy duties of life as con- 
trasted with the follies and vanities 
against which they have been warned. 
If you are truly children of God, you 
have been chosen by him in his eter- 
nal counsels to a life of holiness as 
well as to an eternity of happiness. 
Every thing in your position, in the 
age in which you live, in the solemn 
duties to which you are called, in the 
terms of salvation, and the price paid 
for your redemption, calls on you to 
aim at a high standard of piety, and 
to the attainment of eminent holiness. 
If you would have at last an abund- 
ant entrance administered unto you 
into the kingdom of God, you must 
make religion the business of life. 
It is not enough to profess it, you 
must be so permeated with the Spirit 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 129 

of Christ, that it shall shine forth in 
every act of life. It is because the 
love of the world and conformity to it 
hinder the prayers of the Christian, 
prevent his usefulness, destroy his influ- 
ence, and mar his peace of heart, that 
I have sought to present to you the 
dangers and evils of seeking after 
worldly pleasures and amusements, 
or conforming to worldly customs and 
tastes. The motto of the Christian 
should be, " Let us lay aside every 
weight." 

The Gospel admits of no comprom- 
ise with the world. It requires of us 
that we give all to Christ ; that when 
we have laid our poor sinful hearts at 
the foot of his cross, that there they 
might be washed and renewed, we con- 
secrate their entire affections and im- 
pulses to the service of Him who died 



130 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

that we might live. The sight of 
that cross should for ever annihilate 
all thought of self, and all desire for 
any pleasure which does not spring 
from the love and grace of Christ. 
Resolve then, in his strength, that you 
will forsake all to follow him, and that 
you will renounce every thing that 
may interfere with his service. You 
have a glorious vocation. Look over 
the sacred oracles and see with what 
dignity and honour the Christian is in- 
vested, linked as he is with the sov- 
ereign and 'eternal purposes of God. 
Saith the apostle, " Ye are a chosen 
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy 
nation, a peculiar people, that ye should 
shew forth the praise of Him who hath 
called you out of darkness into his 
marvellous light." And that he might 
indicate the duties which flow from 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 131 

such a calling, he says again, " As He 
which hath called you is holy, so be 
ye holy in all manner of conversation, 
because it is written, Be ye holy for I 
am holy." 

Every where in the sacred record 
we are meeting with such evidence of 
the high honours, and the exalted priv- 
ileges, and the solemn duties of the 
people of God. They are objects of 
special interest to the angels. Their 
introduction to the family of Christ is 
an occasion that sends a thrill of joy 
to all those great and glorious spirits 
that stand in the presence of God. 
They have been bought at an amazing 
price, that being no longer their own 
they might become the willing and 
faithful servants of Christ in the es- 
tablishment of his kingdom, in the up- 
building of the church, in the salva- 



132 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

tion of souls, and the final conversion 
of the world to himself. To be fitted 
for such responsibilities, you must gird 
up the loins of your mind and put on 
the whole armour of God. The work 
before you requires the whole of life, 
and all the energies of your soul. 
The world that lures you to its bowers 
of ease and pleasure, is the enemy of 
your Master, and must yet be subdued 
to him. In that conquest you must 
bear a part; not by parleying with 
its temptations, not by yielding to its 
solicitations, not by conforming to its 
customs ; but by a holy life adorning 
the doctrine of Christ, and by a well 
ordered conversation that shall set 
forth the beauty of religion, and the 
power of divine grace. There is work 
enough for every hour — work that is 
its own reward. Life is too precious 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 133 

and too short to be wasted in idleness 
and folly. 

" VTake thou that sleepest in enchanted bowers, 
Lest thy lost years should haunt thee in the night, 

When death is waiting for thy numbered hours, 
To take their swift and everlasting flight. 
Wake ere the earth-born charms unnerve thee quite, 

And be thy thoughts to work divine addressed. 
Do something — do it soon with all thy might, 

An angel's wing would droop if long at rest." 

An earnest and whole hearted de- 
votion to the work of the Christian, 
flowing from communion with God in 
the closet, and from a simple faith in 
Christ and his promises, will soon 
make every pleasure distasteful to you 
that is unworthy your nature and your 
calling. It will bring you up to a 
higher enjoyment than this world can 
afford. Christ calls you forth to earn- 
est labour, in which he proffers you 
12 



134 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

his own grace to assist you, and his own 
presence to go with you. He points 
you to a world lying in sin, and says, 
Go, work to-day in my vineyard. He 
enrolls your names among his soldiers, 
and as he points you to the enemy 
with whom you are to contend, he 
bids you go forth in his strength and 
conquer. 

Look forth upon the field that lies 
before you. Is there time for trifling 
with such a work pressing upon you ? 
Shall not the love of Christ constrain 
you ? Shall you not follow in his 
steps, and, impelled by his wondrous 
example, go forth to spread the tri- 
umphs of the cross ? You live in an 
age that peculiarly demands earnest- 
ness and zeal on the part of the church. 
On every hand calls are made for la- 
bourers to enter the fields that are 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 135 

whitening to the harvest. The Bible 
and the tract are to be circulated 
amid the ignorant and the destitute. 
Neglected and outcast children are to 
be sought out and gathered into Sab- 
bath-schools. The poor and the af- 
flicted are to be visited in the abodes 
of wretchedness, and comforted and re- 
lieved. You may, in all the varied de- 
partments of Christian benevolence, 
exert an influence that shall be felt for 
good in years and generations to come. 
It may not be your lot to preach the 
gospel at home or abroad ; but you 
may find heathen at your very doors, 
and, carrying to them the gracious 
message of mercy, may awaken some 
heart to a knowledge of the truth, and 
so save a soul from death and hide a 
multitude of sins. 

What a work is this — to lead a sin- 



136 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

ner to Christ — to be the instrument 
of his salvation — to awaken him to a 
sense of his guilt, and to direct him to 
the fountain where all his sins may be 
blotted out — to set in motion a train of 
blessed influences which shall pass on 
to the eternal world and be for ever a 
source of joy and thanksgiving ! What 
an honour is this — to be a co-worker 
with God — to be made his instrument 
in carrying on his gracious purposes 
towards this lost world ! What a high 
and glorious vocation is this — to be the 
soldier of the great Captain of our 
salvation — nay, to be a king and priest 
unto God ! Shall aught be permitted 
to come between you and the solemn 
duties and responsibilities of your 
high calling ? Oh ! remember that 
you have been brought into the church 
and made partakers of Christ, for 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 137 

higher and holier purposes than the 
service of self and sensual gratification 
and enjoyment. 

Ye are not your own. In the king- 
dom of God, no man liveth to himself. 
The voice of your divine Leader sum- 
mons you forth to the work of life. His 
providence marks it out plainly before 
you. His word directs you how you, 
may both glorify God and enjoy him 
for ever. His Spirit is given you, 
that you may find strength and grace 
to help in time of need. His example 
is before you, that you may follow in 
his steps. His promises are set forth 
to lead you on where sight and sense 
are bidding you hesitate and falter, 
and sit down in discouragement and 
despondency. 

Here is not your rest ; though all 

along the path you tread, refreshment 
12 * 



138 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 

and comfort are provided, and springs 
of heavenly consolation well forth at 
your side. In all times of danger, or 
when heart and flesh fail, God is your 
refuge and strength. The feeblest 
prayer, if uttered in faith, shall bring 
you quick relief. The ear of Him 
who is mighty to save is ever open to 
your cry. In the great conflict of life 
you may sometimes feel that you war 
not with flesh and blood, but against 
principalities and powers ; yet clad in 
heavenly armour, and girded with the 
grace of Christ, you shall come off 
more than conqueror. And when your 
work is done, and, saved by the grace 
and washed in the blood of the Lamb, 
you rise to the full enjoyment of his 
love, you shall all walk in white, and 
sweep your harps to notes of praise 
and thanksgiving unto him who hath 



THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WARNED. 139 

redeemed you to God by his blood, and 
given you the victory over sin and the 
world, and permitted you to shine as 
the stars among those who turn many 
to righteousness. 



THE END. 



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